Jenson Button has urged Lando Norris to stop showing ‘weakness’ after the Formula One star said he ‘threw away’ victory at the British Grand Prix.
Sir Lewis Hamilton claimed an emotional win at Silverstone on Sunday, his first F1 victory since December 2021, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and Norris.
Norris had done brilliantly to overtake Hamilton and George Russell for the lead of the race, but with 12 laps to go a botched strategy call knocked him out of contention.
Despite still achieving a podium at his home race, the McLaren driver was deeply frustrated and repeatedly stated that he and his team had bottled the win and cost them points in the title race with Verstappen.
‘I hate saying it again. So many things were going well,’ the 24-year-old said in the post-race press conference.
‘We threw it away in the final stop. So one lap, but also I don’t think it was a lap. I think even if I boxed on the perfect lap, our decision to go on to the softs was the wrong one.
‘I think Lewis still would have won no matter what. So two calls from our side cost us everything today. So, especially here, pretty disappointing.
‘I need to keep working on my own stuff. And just try and put it together because there are still so many positives. There are so many good things and so many things in place.
‘But frustrating when a few times this season we’ve thrown away something that should have been ours.’
While he got his first F1 win in Miami back in May, Norris could have and perhaps should have had more this season, coming agonisingly close in Imola, Canada, Spain and Austria.
While naturally disappointed, 2009 champion Button has urged his fellow Brit to stop being so hard on himself, saying on Sky Sports: ‘Lando needs to be a little bit careful with his emotions.
‘He is putting himself down massively and the last race, this race, and it can quite easily spiral out of control.
‘We know how important it is to have your head in the right place. He is so talented that I don’t want him to be too down on himself so that he is not back up there at the next race.
‘Also you don’t want to show your competitors that you’re that down. That’s a weakness that you don’t want to show.
‘It’s lovely that he’s open with his emotions and it’s great for us viewers, but I’m just thinking of the competitive side of things. He shouldn’t be so down on himself.’
Norris will have another shot a victory and the chance to close the 84 point gap to Verstappen at the next race in Hungary on July 21.
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